This is no time for point scoring - but to clean up

by Mokwena Kwenaite 17/12/2012, 19:28

I still feel numb with shock at the tragic passing of Adam Ndlovu, the younger brother to Madinda but older to the famous “Bulawayo Express” Peter, who died in the early hours of Sunday following a fatal car crash near Victoria Falls.

Those who knew Adamskie will tell you that he was a sweet, well-loved soul, a teetotaller and a hell of a guy to hang around. Adam was cool headed. He had to because as the middle one between two headstrong brothers it appeared as if God had bestowed on him the wisdom to be able to bring order when arguments got heated.

He was an exceptionally talented player blessed with the ability to poach a goal out of nothing. But when his younger sibling Peter came into the picture, the media described Peter as the most talented, even better than Adam and Madinda.

Yet such was the down-to-earth Adam that he was never bothered nor was he consumed by sibling rivalry or jealousy. Instead, he loved Peter to bits and I have never seen two brothers who loved each other as much as the duo.

You would be mistaken to sometimes think they were friends and not brothers. They loved Madinda and Marko all right, but everyone knew they had a special bond. We all knew how close the two were and it is ironic in a tragic way, that on Adam’s last day on earth, they were together.

May Adam’s soul rest in peace and may the good Lord grant the Ndlovu family the strength to go through this difficult period, especially with Peter reportedly in a stable but critical condition at a hospital in Bulawayo, where he is treated for the multiple fractures including a broken leg, ribs and facial injuries.

I was digesting the tragedy that befell the Ndlovu clan when I received a heavy blow below the belt that almost knocked me over. Five members of the South African Football Association (Safa) including president Kirsten Nematandani have been suspended following a damning report of match fixing compiled by Fifa.

It is alleged that Bafana’s warm-up matches prior to the 2010 Fifa World Cup that included a 5-0 thumping of Thailand, might have been fixed. I subscribe to the saying that a person is innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law and will consider the five innocent.

I am happy that Safa has appointed a retired judge to head a commission of inquiry into the matter. There is no doubt that this scandal has seriously damaged the reputation of South African football and we need to be seen to be cleaning up our house and our game.

I also wish to urge our administrators to take an example out of the game in Zimbabwe. Authorities across our border heard that their game had been brought to shame in what has become known as the Asiagate scandal.

They investigated and no less than 90 players, technical staff, journalists as well as executive committee members were found to have been deeply implicated. But while the action they had taken was commendable, they appeared to have not thought everything out properly.

The Zimbabweans are back-tracking after initially banning certain individuals for life and others slapped with 15-year banning orders. But Fifa instructed them to set up a proper arbitration committee to allow the aggrieved parties an outlet to appeal.

South Africa must not be overzealous and take this opportunity as a perfect time for points scoring or to settle old scores. They should seize this chance to cleanse our game and if the fingered individuals have indeed an iota of involvement in the unfolding scandal, proper structures must be put in place to take appropriate action.

It is important that South Africa, a leading country in world football with a stable economy and infrastructure to die for, should be seen to be leading the way in rooting out corruption if any exists.

We must be seen to be acting and not spinning anything in the mistaken belief that it will blow away in a week or a month. Our reputation is in the gutters and we need to honestly and painfully engage in an exercise that will wipe our slate clean.